Post Three of Three: Final Notes

For my last post I wanted to just wrap up the semester a little bit. From a horse show standpoint, we ended the semester as regional champions. Next semester we will have two horse show weekends which is a total of four shows that we will be trying to maintain that lead so that we can take a team to Zones in Wisconsin in April. 

This semester we also elected our new executive board for 2014 and I was elected for the chronicler position! My job is to keep track of everyone's points for the team and to make sure that my records line up with the regional point keeper's records. The other officers are as follows:

President: Molly Schlagel

Vice President: Alyssa Zielinski

Secretary: Jessica Nelson

Treasurer: Alexa Clarisse

Assistant Treasurer: Cassie Kramer

Public Relations: Laura Hudec

Alumni Representative: Darby Dyar

Chronicler: Kira Cazenave

Ag Council Representative: Claire Larson

Horse Care Manager: Kelsey Braaten 

So far we all work very well together and will be able to lead the team to a continued successful season and successful future seasons. 

This weekend we had our annual holiday party that was hosted by Kristin Zabrecky. We always host our parties at someone's house or apartment and this was my favorite PET party in all the time that I have been on the team. We played minute to win it games, decorated Christmas ornaments, did a white elephant gift exchange which I got a fleece blanket from, and just had a chance to socialize and relax before finals week starts. I decorated three ornaments. I made one that was a horse head which I painted to look like my sweet Star (who I'll be seeing tomorrow!!!) and I made a couple other ornaments for my two best tuba friends that I'll give to them next time I see them. 

This has been a great semester with the team I love and I'm looking forward to what next semester has in store for me.

Left to right: Alyssa Zielinski (Vice President), Molly Schlagel (President), Alexa Clarisse (Treasurer)

Jessica Nelson (Secretary)

Cassie Kramer (Assistant Treasurer)

Laura Hudec (Public Relations)

Darby Dyar (Alumnni Rep.), Kira Cazenave (Chronicler)

Claire Larson (Ag Council Rep.)

Kelsey Braaten (Horse Care Manager)

Some Christmas Party Pictures:

Post Two of Three: Final Horse Show of the Semester Day Two

Overview
In the second day of the horse show, we were the reserve champion as a team. Over fences we took third and fourth for open, first in intermediate, and first, third, and sixth in novice. For flat we got first and third in open, first in intermediate, second, two thirds, fourth, fifth, and sixth in novice, first, second, third, fourth, and sixth in advanced walk trot canter, second and fourth in beginning walk trot canter, and fourth in walk trot. Typically for horse shows, those of us who stay both days stay in a hotel but this time I couldn't. I had to be back at Purdue to play in a band concert Saturday night so this weekend I did a total of eight hours of driving. Needless to say by Sunday I was exhausted but I was definitely excited for my ride at the end of the day.

My Ride
For this show I drew a white pony named Donnie. He was a pretty good ride. I had my best ride of my intercollegiate career on him. I placed fourth which is the highest I have ever placed in an intercollegiate show. Jerry was happy with my ride as well and so were the other riders on my team. Donnie was probably approximately 14 hands or so, possibly a little less. He was a cutie. He was a little stiff though because it was bitter cold that day and he had a few classes off so he was just standing in the cold which made his muscles stiffen up a little. He did ease up as the ride went on though and was well behaved. Typically I prefer drawing the horses as opposed to the ponies because ponies are known for having kind of a spunky attitude which isn't always good for showing on a pony you don't know but fortunately Donnie was a good boy.

Show MVP
The show MVP for Sunday is junior Darby Dyar. She is the point rider for open fences and flat and is the top rider overall on our team. For this show, she placed third in both fences and flat. This is her second year on the team just like me. We met at trial rides and have been pretty much joint at the hip ever since. She has been showing horses since she was young but showing in IHSA is completely different from what she has done the last few years. She competes primarily in jumpers which is basically "quick and dirty." You get around the course as fast as you can and don't necessarily worry about having perfect form. What we do in intercollegiate riding, on the other hand, is called equitation. Proper form is a major part of what you're judged on so she had to completely adjust her mindset to be able to ride successfully for the Purdue team. She had shown equitation before but not since she was younger. She has adapted well over the last year and a half to how the intercollegiate shows work and she has potential this year to be the all around regional high point rider which is a huge accomplishment.

Next Post
The next post will be my final one and it will be a post to tie in some of the loose ends that I haven't discussed yet which are just things that are important but didn't fit into the topics of any of the other posts.


Last team picture of the semester


My ride




Show MVP, Darby Dyar

Post One of Three: Final Horse Show of the Semester Day One

Overview
This show was the final show for the semester and we were riding at SMWC which is the same location that we were at for the first horse show weekend. As a team for Saturday, we were the high point team. We are now leading the region overall once again. Over fences we got third and fifth in open, first in intermediate, and first and second in novice. For the flat we got fourth and fifth in open, first in intermediate, first, second, and fourth in novice, two firsts, second, fourth and fifth in advanced walk trot canter, second, third, fourth, and fifth in beginning walk trot canter, and fourth in walk trot.

Show MVP
The show MVP for Saturday is junior, Molly Schlagel. This is her third year on the team and she rides in the intermediate fences and flat classes. She was out point rider Saturday for both classes and got first place in both fences and flat. She also serves on the exec board for the team as our president and will most likely get the position of assistant coach for next year after our current assistant coach graduates in May. Molly is a consistently outstanding rider for the team. She wins her classes frequently and brings a lot of points to the team. Very few people can ride in intercollegiate riding as consistently as she can. Since we are riding horses we don't know, it's always a gambol whether we will have a good ride or not but she has been able to make herself a team with every horse she draws.

Next Post
The next post will be the recap of day two of the horse show.

Team picture at the end of day one




Show MVP, Molly Schlagel

Post Two of Two: TABS Horse Show Day Two

Overview
On Sunday we were once again reserve champions to Illinois and now they are tied with us for the lead overall in the region. For placings in the fences classes, we took third and fifth in open, third in intermediate, and third in novice. For the flat classes, we took second in open, first and fifth in intermediate, three thirds and a fourth in novice, third, fifth and sixth in advanced walk trot canter, fifth and sixth in beginning walk trot canter, and sixth in walk trot.

My Ride
I was the walk trot point rider for the team on Sunday. The horse I rode was named Bart. He was a good ride, approximately sixteen hands (or 64 inches to the base of his neck). He was a little sluggish so I had to carry a crop and keep some leg on him to keep him going but overall we had a good ride. Jerry was also happy with my ride when I went to see him after I finished. He thought I would have placed higher than sixth but it's a subjective sport so it's all about what the judge is looking at, what they see and when they see it. Getting that praise from Jerry really made the color of the ribbon not matter so much to me. I was just happy that he was happy with the progress I have made this season. I will still be working to constantly improve my skills for the next show which is at SMWC on November 23rd/24th.

Show MVP
The show MVP for Sunday is Callie Van Ingen who rides in beginning walk trot canter. She is a senior and fourth year on the team. Although she has been on the team for all four years, she has only shown once or twice in that time because of a combination of nerves and frequent illness. This was her first show since she was an under classman and she was nervous but we, as a team, were able to talk her down and prepare her to go out and ride with confidence. It was really meaningful for her to place in the top six in this show because she proved to herself that she could do it and it boosted her confidence immensely. Last semester, she was so sick that she only took one lesson and didn't show the entire semester but she has made a fantastic comeback this year. The people who are in lessons with her say that she has been riding really well in lessons and that was what we used to talk her down before her ride. Coming out of the arena after her show and being announced for sixth place, Callie looked like a whole different person than the nervous person who entered the arena. Amazing what winning a ribbon can do for a rider's morale!

Next Post
The next post will come out either later today or tomorrow and will be one of a two part post just like this one. It will cover day one of the third and final horse show of the semester at SMWC.


Team picture after day two at TABS


My ride



Show MVP, Callie Van Ingen